A/N Hello my lovelies! Sorry for the lateness. This isn't a very long chapter, but I just love the idea of the whole thing. Much loves! Enjoy.
Sam peers out the partially covered window, her breath fogging the glass. "I think the snow is finally starting to let up."
"Good. I'ma need to go huntin soon." he says, stoking the fire "I'll see how deep it is in the morning."
"How long have we been here?" Sam asks, sitting on the rug in front of the fire.
"Couple a days, no more 'n a week since we left Boston. Why?" he sits next to her.
"Just wondering. It's hard to see keep track of the days when you only see the sun for a few minutes a day." she leans against him, putting her arm behind his back, "Crazy to think it's been less than a year since all this started. What were you doing last year?"
He sighs and takes his time deciding whether to answer or not, "Waitin for Merle to get outa prison so I could move back in with him, workin jobs here an there an tryin to avoid the old man as much as I could."
"You didn't have your own place?" Sam asks.
He shrugs "Sometimes. Merle was gone a lot when he wasn't in jail. He needed someone at his place so no one ever tried to rob him. Was almost as good as my own place."
"He was in jail a lot?"
"Nah, only a few times, spent a lot of time in juve when we were kids though. But it got him out, so I can't blame him too much for that." he laughs, but it is a hollow sound.
"I'm sorry." she says, scooting closer "You still miss him?"
" 'Course I do, he was a prick, but he was still my brother. He's been gone before, but I always know he's be back sooner or later."
Daryl stares at the fire in silence, thinking about Merle. Losing him was a double edged sword, he finally felt free to be his own man, out from Merle's shadow, but at the same time, it was his brother. They had always been all each other had, been to hell and back together. Having Sam, and the rest of the group, definitely helps to take away some of the sting of losing Merle, knowing there are other people that care, that would risk their lives for him. That ragtag group, and this girl next to him have given him more of a sense of family and purpose than his blood family ever did. Even Merle. Merle would have beaten his ass black and blue if he knew that. Merle always thought he was the perfect big brother, throw himself on the sword to save his baby brother, even tried to reason that leaving was the better option for them both.
Sam studies Daryl's face out of the corner of her eye. The firelight casts shadows on his features, making them sharper than they are. His hair has grown out noticeably, almost covering his eyes, which aren't constantly hard set anymore. His lips, which she has forced into a reluctant smile on many occasions, are also more relaxed now, not the scowl she had gotten so used to seeing from him. She loves this man, scars and all. He has saved her life more than once, and there is nothing she would not do for him.
He blinks out of his trance and turns those amazing blue eyes to her, "You look tired."
"Yeah, apparently sitting around the house for a few days will do that." she smiles softly.
"Hey, if you don't feel like you're doin enough, I can make you go out an hunt tomorrow."
"You do that an we'll end up starving."
"Nah, you ain't that bad of a shot."
"Walkers and pillows maybe, but something alive and moving, not so much. Besides, I don't know the first thing about hunting."
"Well maybe I can teach you a few things one of these times I go out." he suggests.
"That might be nice." Sam smiles.
"It's always a good thing to know how to do. All that canned stuff will only be around a little longer, an there's only so much stuff you can grow. We're gonna need people who know how to hunt."
Sam tries to respond but is interrupted by a yawn. Unable to keep her eyes open, she stretches out on the rug and lays her head in Daryl's lap, letting the crackling fire lull her to sleep.
Daryl strokes her hair and watches the fire burn down thinking how and why, especially now, in a world where it's stupid to get so attached to people, this one girl has come to mean so much to him. Letting people in and getting close to him has always been a mistake, but now that people leave faster than ever, he finds himself telling Sam things that no one else knows. He waits until the last log is just glowing embers before he carefully picks Sam up off the floor and carries her to the bed.
"Why do we have to be out so early?" Sam whispers, following Daryl's steps in the deep snow.
"They're animals, but they ain't that stupid. They hunker down and sleep later in the day. They know it's safer at night." he explains quietly "Keep an eye out for any of those tracks I showed you. Might need to do a little trackin."
"We really need to get something decent today. That stuff you got a few days ago is almost gone already." Sam points out, one hand on her stomach to quiet the grumbling.
Daryl rolls his shoulders and looks back at her "You asked me to teach you how to hunt. Fine. But yer gonna hafta shut up. Yer scarin away everythin nearby."
"Sorry." she whispers, hiding her smile by scanning the ground for tracks. "Daryl."
He turns his attention to her and follows her gaze to a pine grove about thirty feet to their left. A large buck is pawing at the ground, looking for food. Daryl puts his fingers to his lips and hands Sam the crossbow, despite her wide eyes and head shake. He steps behind her and helps guide her arms.
"Take your time." he barely breathes into her ear. "Aim for right behind the shoulder."
She waits until the buck lowers his head before she fires. The bolt misses it's mark, but lodges in the bucks side. The buck grunts and takes off away from them.
"Damn." Sam sighs.
"What?" Daryl asks slinging the bow over his shoulder.
"I didn't kill it." she says, frustrated.
"Do you know how hard it is to bring down game with one shot? So what if we gotta follow it fer a little while." he heads off to follow the trail.
"I wish I knew how to save some of this." Sam says, dropping her end of the buck. "There's so much meat here. It would be nice to have a reserve supply. There's no way we can eat all this in a few days before it spoils."
"I can give it a shot." Daryl says, cleaning off his hands. "My old man never taught us much on our huntin trips, but when my uncle and his buddies would come too, they made sure we learned a thing or two. The way shit was at home, sometimes we'd go without for a couple a days, and electricity was just as iffy. Jesse wanted to make sure we knew how to take care of ourselves."
"Daryl. That's" she starts, but he waves her off.
"Didn't know any different. Never thought bout it til I was older. Got me prepared pretty good for this though. That's something." he looks back at the deer, "See if I member how ta do this now."
"Just let me know what you need, I'll see what I can do." Sam offers.
"The wood we've been burning, you know if it's pine or not?" he asks, starting to skin the buck.
"I don't know, how can I tell?"
"Did you get any sap on you when you were splitting or stacking? Or when you carry it in?"
"I don't think so. It didn't smell like pine either."
"Alright. Good. How bout salt? We got a lot of that around?"
"It's crazy that you know how to do all this stuff." Sam steps back, looking at the makeshift smoker. "I would have no clue."
"Like I said, Jesse wanted to make sure we could take care of ourselves."
"I'd say he did a fair job." Sam glances at the sun overhead. "Maybe the sun will melt some of the snow today?"
"Maybe, but if it doesn't before it snows again, we'll have a hell of a time tryin to get anywhere. It's already a foot deep."
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